Writing an Overdue Paper/Words and Nuances/Recent Developments

1. Writing an overdue paper.

I am currently writing a long overdue paper comparing Heidegger and Benjamin’s concepts of ge-stell and gewalt, respectively. Maybe I’ll post it up when it’s done. I like having comprehensive cyberspace retreats to muck around in my own dirt in. I feel guilty for the paper’s lateness, though. It’s three weeks behind schedule.

When that’s done, which it should be in the vicinity of Tuesday morning, I will go on to write my paper for ‘Intellectuals in the World of Medieval Korean History’ (three or so pages long – shan’t labor too much); look into colonial-era-and-wartime NK novelist Han Sorya and the 1920s’ debates on Anarchist-Proletariat Literature (an ongoing extensive research program I’ve set for myself, so it registers as relatively less weight); prepare for the literature meeting I organize on Thursday; read up on the political theory behind the concept of ‘balancer’ states with a focus on its applicability to South Korea; and read the article for Wednesday’s ’Intro to International Politics’ class. I have to look for the Homo Sacer .pdf I saved last semester.

I enjoy making to-do lists like these. The matter-of-fact activity required in thinking through these responsibilities gives me a feeling of accomplishment, and helps tether me to my tasks. (Otherwise, I would meander through the ozone.) 

 2. Words and nuances.

Just something I remembered I wanted to jot down. This happened like, last month, I think.

I was reading a random Asimov novel – I believe it was the Naked Sun, one of those quickly-dashed-out novels on detective Bentley and R. Daneel Olivaw – when something caught my eye. It was the description of a robot in the act of giving Bentley a bow, and the word specifically used was: ‘[it lowered its upper body]…in the travesty of a bow.’

When I saw this, I was struck by the many levels at which the word affected me. Literally, dictionary.com defines ‘travesty’ as follows:

–noun

–verb (used with object)

 1..a literary or artistic burlesque of a serious work or subject, characterized by grotesque or ludicrous incongruity of style, treatment, or subject matter.  2.a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model. 3. any grotesque or debased likeness or imitation: a travesty of justice. 4. to make a travesty on; turn (a serious work or subject) to ridicule by burlesquing.  5. to imitate grotesquely or absurdly.

Something akin to this original meaning was the first image to enter my mind; it is no secret that Bentley is contemptuous of openly robotic robots at this juncture, so it’s not a far stretch to think of a robot’s bow as a mockery of a human one. 

A range of associations also followed, however. A hint of the word ‘tragedy’ was among the first to hit, and then a sense of ‘trajectory’ closely shadowed by ‘courtesy’ seeped through. I don’t know if Asimov intended this, but whether or not he did is arguably beside the point. I giggled at this happy, well-conducted wordplay.

Granted, these associated nuances are derived from phonetic similarities and are not necessarily universal, but they WERE there for me – the technical, mathematical sheen of the word ‘trajectory’ imparted more than its textile share to the image of a metallic android figure; the word ‘courtesy’ colored the robot’s ligaments with its role’s impartial, indifferent servility; and the swift-fleeting initial waft of ‘tragedy’ countered the comicality originally associated with the word’s proper meaning by dropping just the right dab of somber propriety befitting… everything in context. Travesty. This was the perfect word lodged in the perfect spot.

I marvelled for a long time, and was impressed, and was filled with a sort of brimming gleeful identification. I do a lot of searching for the right word too, and when I do find what I’m looking for my heartstrings snap their fingers and are totally pleased. Asimov must’ve been very pleased when he found that word to put in there. Just because you’re prolific doesn’t mean you have to be slapdash.

  

3. Recent developments.

 

I’m in love, cautiously securing myself in a relationship that deepens by the hour. I’m not yet quite sure how to transcribe this. I do know warmth when I feel it.

Jeff Buckley is still being very good to me. Hypnotically so. I have almost all of Jeff’s albums now, including DVD’s: Mystery White Boy, Life at Sin-E, Jeff Buckley Live in Chicago, Grace, Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk. I want to improve my guitar-playing because I feel it would help settle this restlessness. I also want the other two DVD’s of Jeff’s that I don’t have: his Live Concert in Japan, and Grace Around the World (although I have seen its contents on Youtube, it’s just not the same.) I’d also like to know where I might be able to view/hear more recordings of his – demos, impromptus, it’s all good. I’ve caught the odd Youtube video of, say, Jeff playing Magic Number or Once I was.

Maybe I’ll trip to New York’s West side, someday, and crash there for a year or two, imbibing the music scene there, which is achingly tantalizing. I donno.

Talchumgongyeon is on the 27th. I have two presentations to give on that week, which is next week. Not much time.

I need more music!